Workplace Culture Impact On Career

The most valuable private tech company out of Europe right now published its performance management playbook. And IMO every entrepreneur should read it. There’s a lot out there about what Revolut has accomplished ($428m in net profit last year, with $2.2bn in revenue and a global customer base of 45 million for starters). There’s a lot less written about how the Revolut team achieved this level of success. Which makes Nik Storonsky’s “Driving High Performance” playbook so valuable. It was co-written by Nik and the team at QuantumLight and somehow manages to condense nearly a decade of Nik’s best practices from growing Revolut into a 30-minutes read. What I find most notable about Nik’s playbook: 🥷 𝐀 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐑 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐄𝐎 Nik believes performance management is a science, not an art. It can be standardized and it should be a top CEO priority. At Revolut, this looks like a team of smart operators that can build the process for performance management and constantly fine-tune evaluations and incentives. 🧮 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 Performance is delivered over three dimensions — deliverables, skills and culture — and scorecards are used to describe ideal behavior. Assessment is standardized through yes/no answers. For each seniority level, the performance team sets a bar for expectations and goes through a quarterly process to gather performance reviews, calculate grades, calibrate results, and share those results with managers to deliver feedback. There’s no exception to this process, no matter how junior or senior someone is. The result of such a mathematical approach? Employees get evaluated on outcomes, not intuition. Which means they spend less time focused on positioning themselves positively and more time improving their metrics. 🥇 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐞𝐱𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 When everything that matters gets measured across functions, both A-players and under-performers are easy to spot. Revolut doesn’t shy away from giving its top 15-25 percent of employees disproportionate compensation. On the other side of the performance coin, they focus on exiting the bottom 0-10% of performers as quickly as possible. At a time when all the talk is about founder mode, here is a concrete, actionable playbook for maintaining peak performance at a large scale. Is Nik’s approach for everyone? No. Can it lead to incredible results for founders that adapt this model to their own culture? Absolutely. Nik Storonsky and QuantumLight, thanks for sharing your secrets - hopefully it will inspire and help a lot of entrepreneurs.

𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐬 : 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 ? Appraisals are often seen as a scorecard, a moment in time where performance is measured and rated. But shouldn't we be looking at these another way? Performance appraisals have long been perceived as an evaluation tool and an assessment of what’s been achieved in the past year. But if we truly want to develop talent, we must shift the lens. 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧; 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 A holistic appraisal is much more than ratings and checkboxes. While performance metrics and KPIs provide structure, they don’t capture the full picture. What about the challenges an employee navigated? The skills they acquired? The impact they created beyond defined goals? Their aspirations for the future? If appraisals only measure the past, they miss the opportunity to shape what comes next. This is where feedforward becomes critical—shifting the focus from evaluation to evolution. Instead of just identifying gaps, conversations should center around where an individual wants to go, what skills they need, and how the organization can support that journey. The shift from once a year review to a continuous feedback culture is just as important. Growth is built through ongoing dialogue, coaching, and alignment between individual potential and business needs. When approached this way, appraisals build careers and strengthen the organization’s future. What practices have you experienced/ implemented that made your performance appraisal mechanisms richer? #PerformanceManagement #Feedforward #Appraisals2025

Behaviors are learned and reinforced. To make performance evaluations more inclusive, you need to proactively craft new practices. 🧠 Unbiasing nudges, intentional and subtle adjustments I craft with my clients, can play a pivotal role in achieving an objective and inclusive performance assessment. 👇 Here is what to consider: 🔎 Key Decision Points Analyze your evaluation process to identify key decision points. In my practice, focusing on assessment, performance goal setting, and feedback processes has proven crucial. Introduce inclusive prompts at each stage to guide unbiased decision-making. 🔎 Common Biases Examine previous reviews to unearth prevailing biases. Halo/horn effects, recency bias, and affinity bias often surface. Counteract these biases by crafting nudges tailored to your organization, integrating them seamlessly into your review spreadsheets. 🔎 Behavioral Prompts I usually develop concise pre-decision checklists tailored to each organization. The goal is to support raters' metacognition and introduce timed prompts during the evaluation process. 🔎 Feedback Loops Begin with small-scale implementation and collect feedback. Compare perceptions of both raters and ratees to gauge effectiveness. 🔎 Ongoing Training Avoid off-the-shelf solutions; instead, tailor training to your organization's unique context and patterns. Your trainer should understand your specific needs and design a continuous training program that reinforces these unbiasing nudges, providing managers with the necessary competencies. 🔎 Pilot and Evaluation Define metrics to measure progress and impact. Pilot your unbiasing nudges and regularly evaluate their effectiveness. Adjust based on feedback and insights gained during the pilot phase. 👉 Crafting inclusive performance evaluations is an ongoing journey. Yet, I believe, it's one of the most important ones. Each evaluation matters as it defines a person's career and sometimes even the future. ________________________________________ Are you looking for more DEI x Performance-related recommendations like this?  📨 Join my free DEI Newsletter:

India is preparing thousands of B.Ed and D.El.Ed student-teachers every year. We will now also have ITEP students graduating as well to the pool of aspiring teachers. But how many are actually becoming teachers? Recently, we at Sterlite EdIndia Foundation conducted an alumni survey across our partnered colleges. We received responses from nearly 43% (1300) of the alumni base of the 2025. What stood out was concerning: only 12.45% of the respondents had started their career as a teacher in 2025 , while 75% of the respondents said they were still interested in education-related jobs. This % may go up in 2026 when we get the information of the same cohort after two years of graduation. This means the aspiration is still alive. But the pathway seems broken. I was reflecting on this while attending the State-Level TLM Competition for Rajasthan D.El.Ed students organised in collaboration with Rajasthan SCERT and the Inter-College Teaching Plan Competition for second-year B.Ed student-teachers in Chhattisgarh organised in collaboration with Columbia College. In both spaces, I saw passionate, capable young people who clearly wanted to teach. That is what makes this gap so worrying. If only 10–15% of pre-service student-teachers are entering classrooms, then the issue is not just individual choice. It is a systemic question. Are there too few vacancies? Are recruitment processes too delayed or uncertain? Are too many seats being sanctioned without alignment to actual demand? Are we preparing young people for a profession that is not opening its doors widely enough? Is this is an employment issue or is it a teacher education issue? If we want stronger schools, better learning outcomes, and real education reform, then we must look closely at the gap between teacher preparation and teacher absorption. What we need now is stronger alignment between teacher education, workforce planning, recruitment systems, and career pathways. We need to ensure that the energy and commitment of young student-teachers are not lost in transition, but meaningfully carried into classrooms. The passion is there. The readiness is there. The opportunity must follow. #TeacherEducation #EducationPolicy #BEd #DElEd #Teachers #SchoolEducation #EducationReform

Rebuilding Teaching – From Strain to Profession of Choice Australia’s teacher shortage which we have been talking about for decades, isn’t a future threat, it’s here, every school, every week. Great teachers are walking away. Future teachers are looking the other way. And too often, the system shrugs. At the heart of the issue, a profession burdened by overwork, poor support, and a fading reputation. And classroom behaviour that, in too many schools, goes unchecked. Ask a high-performing graduate why they won’t choose teaching, and they’ll tell you plainly - “Why would I sign up for that?” Meanwhile, Finland, a global benchmark in education, shows us a different path. We send experts there to learn, but we rarely listen. ✅ Only the top 10% are admitted into teacher education ✅ All teachers hold a Master’s degree ✅ No standardised testing in basic education ✅ Teachers enjoy trust, autonomy, and public respect ✅ Collaboration, not compliance, drives improvement What can we learn? We won’t fix the shortage with scholarships alone. We need systemic backbone. Here’s where to start - 🔹 Back teachers with consistent behaviour support 🔹 Strip away low-impact admin and busywork 🔹 Mandate proper mentoring and time to collaborate 🔹 Reposition teaching as a career of leadership, not burnout Australia can build a world-class profession. But first, we must stop treating teachers as the last line of defence in a broken system. If you’re a school leader, policymaker, parent, or someone who simply cares, now is the time to speak boldly, not cautiously. Let’s make teaching a profession worth choosing. And one worth staying in. #EducationReform #TeacherShortage #SchoolLeadership #TeacherWellbeing #EducationMatters #PolicyChange #FutureOfEducation #SystemicChange #RebuildingTeaching #LeadershipInEducation

🍎 The teacher shortage isn’t just a staffing issue. It’s the result of years of underfunding, inequity, and a complete disconnect between how we talk about teachers and how we actually treat them. We say teachers are professionals. But in most districts, they have little to no say in their curriculum, professional development, or school policy. We say education matters. Yet, teachers earn 20% less than their college-educated peers—and often work second or third jobs just to make ends meet. We say we care about student success. But we place teachers in unsafe environments without adequate support staff, counselors, or the tools to help students facing real trauma. The result? Teachers leave. Fewer enroll in teacher prep programs. And students, especially in high-poverty areas are getting left behind. The good news? This is fixable. Raise pay. Respect voices. Restore safety. Rebuild support systems. If we want to keep great teachers in the classroom, we have to treat them like the professionals they are. Not just with words—but with action and education policy reform. https://lnkd.in/eRUJA4bq #EducationMatters #SupportTeachers #TeacherShortage #InvestInEducation

When Schools Start Feeling Like Corporates There was a time when schools were considered the simplest, most nurturing places to work. Teachers taught, guided, and inspired—and their worlds revolved around classrooms, lesson plans, and the joy of watching children grow. But today, the reality feels very different. The school ecosystem has slowly started to mirror corporate culture—long hours, high expectations, and constant performance pressure. Many teachers now work well beyond 12 hours a day, balancing not just teaching but also administrative tasks, event coordination, parent communications, and compliance reporting. And here’s the biggest shift: responsibilities once carried by families and relatives—values education, emotional guidance, etiquette, even conflict resolution—are increasingly expected from teachers. Parents look to schools to fill every gap, often forgetting that a teacher is not just an educator but also a human being with limits. The impact? Teacher burnout is rising, and passionate educators sometimes leave the profession, not because they don’t love teaching, but because the expectations have stretched them too thin. What can change this? ✅ Shared responsibility – Education must remain a partnership between schools and families. ✅ Respect for boundaries – Teachers need time to recharge, just like corporate employees. ✅ Valuing teachers as professionals – Appreciation and trust go a long way. Teaching is a calling, not just a job. But for schools to remain places of joy, the ecosystem must protect its teachers—not overburden them. ✅ Emotional connect is what makes a school truly special -- When students move to the next class, parents and teachers often feel a sense of loss because the bond built that year is unique. This connection should be cherished and preserved. #EducationLeadership #TeacherWellbeing #SchoolCulture #TeacherBurnout #EdLeadership #EducationMatters #WorkLifeBalance

If teaching is the backbone of a nation, why do our brightest minds avoid it? Ask a topper about their dream career—how often do you hear “teacher”? We speak passionately about innovation, AI, startups, and becoming a developed nation. Yet one critical question remains unanswered: Who is choosing to teach the next generation? Globally, only a small fraction of high-performing students see teaching as their first career aspiration. Teaching is widely acknowledged as meaningful—but rarely seen as aspirational. This gap should concern every education leader and policymaker. So why does teaching still struggle to attract top talent? The challenge is not lack of purpose. It lies in how the profession is structured and perceived: • Teaching is often evaluated by hours, compliance, and paperwork, not intellectual contribution • Pay, growth, and recognition rarely match the depth of qualification required, including a PhD • Administrative overload overshadows research, mentoring, and innovation • Social prestige has not kept pace with the profession’s societal impact Now, a new dimension is entering classrooms: Artificial Intelligence. AI has the potential to transform teaching dramatically—by automating routine tasks, enabling personalized learning, supporting assessment, and freeing teachers to focus on mentorship, creativity, and higher-order thinking. If used wisely, AI can shift teaching from content delivery to knowledge facilitation and leadership. This raises an important possibility: Could AI make teaching more intellectually rewarding and attractive for future aspirants? But this will only happen if educators are empowered—not replaced. AI should elevate the role of teachers as designers of learning, critical thinkers, and mentors, not reduce them to supervisors of machines. Which brings us to the larger national question: How can a country aspire to be developed if many of its brightest minds opt out of teaching and knowledge creation? The real corrections must be structural: • Redefine teachers as knowledge creators and learning leaders • Create clear academic, research, and leadership pathways • Restore professional autonomy and trust • Measure impact, not just attendance or working hours Who is responsible? Policy makers, institutions, regulators, and education leaders—all of us. Passion alone cannot compensate for systemic neglect. If we truly want innovation, leadership, and sustainable national progress, the question is not only how we teach students—but why the best minds should want to become teachers in the first place. Teaching is not a 9–5 job. It is a lifelong engagement with knowledge, youth, and the future. AI can amplify this mission—but only if we redesign the profession with respect, vision, and trust. Would you encourage your brightest student to choose teaching today? #FutureOfEducation #TeachingProfession #EducationReform #AIinEducation #NationBuilding #LeadershipMatters #HigherEducation

Are we turning Teaching into a “dead-end career” in India? I came across a comment today… and honestly, it was disturbing. An M.Sc. Physics graduate. 4 years of teaching experience. Final salary? ₹15,000 per month. No job security. No dignity. No growth. Eventually, he was replaced by a fresher and forced to leave the profession. Today, he runs a small farm business — and says he is happier. But the real question is… should we be okay with this? A teacher left the system A classroom lost a mentor And a generation lost a guiding mind We often glorify teachers as “Nation Builders.” But in reality, many of them are struggling just to survive. In large parts of the private education sector: No minimum salary standards No job security Easily replaceable workforce And yet, we expect them to: Build future leaders Inspire innovation Shape character How is that even sustainable? If a teacher is mentally and financially exhausted, how can they build a strong and confident generation? This is not about blaming any one system — this is a wake-up call. It’s time we start demanding: Minimum salary standards for private teachers Better job security and fair contracts Recognition of teachers as an “investment,” not an expense Because the truth is simple: When talented people leave teaching Average talent fills the gap And eventually, the quality of education declines And then, “Developed India” becomes just a slogan. I say this not just as a professional, but as a teacher — this is not just a post, it’s a warning. If we don’t act now, quality education will become a privilege, not a norm. Save the Teacher, Save Education. If this resonates with you, amplify this voice. #SupportTeachers #EducationCrisis #RespectTeachers #PrivateTeachers #NationBuilding #VoiceForChange

In schools around the world, a quiet shift is taking place. It’s not a mass resignation. There are no farewell speeches or final lessons. Instead, it’s more subtle. More silent. Teachers are showing up, teaching their lessons, fulfilling their duties—and then going home. No extra clubs. No unpaid meetings. No staying late to mark. This is what’s become known as quiet quitting. Quiet quitting in education doesn’t mean teachers have stopped caring. It means they’re overwhelmed. Faced with rising demands and diminishing resources, many are drawing clear boundaries. They’re choosing to protect their wellbeing by doing exactly what’s in their contract—nothing more, nothing less. Why Now? This isn’t entirely new. Teaching has long been a profession that demands more than it gives. But the COVID-19 pandemic brought simmering issues to a boil. Remote learning ballooned workloads. Student needs became more complex. Accountability measures intensified. Teachers were hailed as heroes in one breath and buried under administrative tasks the next. It’s no surprise that many began to disengage—not from their students, but from a system that no longer felt sustainable. In Australia, nearly half of all teachers have considered leaving the profession. Similar trends are playing out globally. Those who stay often find themselves stepping back emotionally, not out of apathy, but as a survival strategy. What Are the Consequences? The effects are real. When teachers withdraw, students feel it. Learning becomes less rich. Mentorship fades. The spark that makes school a meaningful place for young people begins to dim. Teachers feel the cost too. Most entered the profession driven by passion, purpose, and a belief in the power of education. Doing the bare minimum cuts against their identity. It creates a moral tension—between wanting to do more and needing to do less to stay afloat. And school culture suffers. Collaboration becomes compliance. Staffrooms grow quieter. The energy that fuels innovation and growth begins to stall. What Can Be Done? While the symptoms of quiet quitting are serious, so too is the response. Across systems, there is growing recognition that teacher burnout must be addressed—not just managed. Some schools are redesigning the work itself. Evidence-based practices like explicit instruction and structured curricula are helping reduce teacher workload while improving student outcomes. Others are reallocating time—offering additional planning hours, reducing pointless paperwork, and streamlining meetings. Wellbeing initiatives are on the rise. From counselling services and peer mentoring to protected non-contact time, these aren’t perks—they’re necessities. Crucially, strong school leadership plays a central role. Principals who listen, adjust expectations, and celebrate staff contributions are helping to turn the tide. Rethinking the System If we want to reverse the quiet retreat of teachers, w...